Michigan is great for golfing
I know it seems hard to believe: Michigan, with a golf season even shorter than Chicago's, is the golfing hotbed of the Midwest.
And there are some, myself included, who consider Michigan the golfing mecca of the entire United States.
(Brian Walters/For the Sun-Times)
Michigan boasts 1,038 courses, and more than 850 of them are open to the public. By comparison, the Chicago District Golf Association lists about 360 courses, public and private, in its 2008 membership. And some of those are in Indiana, Wisconsin and -- you guessed it -- Michigan.
Golf Digest magazine, in its annual ranking of America's 100 Greatest Public Courses, recognized nine Michigan courses: Arcadia Bluffs (ranked 10th), Tullymore (14th), Forest Dunes (20th), Bay Harbor (23rd), Black Lake (35th), Shepherd's Hollow (37th), Red Hawk (40th), Lakewood Shores (54th) and Eagle Eye (81st).
Only Florida and California have more places to golf than Michigan, and no state has more public or resort courses. Michigan has more golf courses per capita than any other state, and Golf Digest calls Michigan the 12th best golf destination in the world.
Forget all those warm weather locations and Scotland, where golf has its roots. Michigan is the place to go for summer golf. Daylight often stretches past 9 p.m. so you can play into the evening hours, and it's not far away.
Michigan's no secret to golf devotees. It's been virtually an annual stop for me for at least 20 years, and in a few of those seasons I went there as many as three times.
While good golf abounds throughout the state, the segment of Michigan in the spotlight this summer is known as "the Thumb" -- that area around Flint and not far away from the Detroit border.
It's the site of two events of worldwide interest this summer: The Buick Open, which was held late last month at the private Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc. The Buick Open was first played there in 1958, and no course in the nation has hosted the world's biggest golf tour more times.
Starting Aug. 4, the golf world will turn its eyes to this part of Michigan for an even bigger event. The PGA Championship will be played at Oakland Hills in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham. Staged at Medinah in 2006, the PGA Championship will draw players and fans from across the world, and they'll find plenty of courses to play when they aren't watching the best competitors duke it out in the last major championship of the year.
Nearby courses come in all price ranges and degrees of difficulty. One with a little bite is the Captain's Club at Woodfield, designed by long-time PGA Tour star Ray Floyd. It's in Grand Blanc, within a few long drives of Warwick Hills.
If you want a course that won't drain your wallet, head to the Timbers, which is in Tuscola on the outskirts of Frankenmuth -- the nifty little German town that has plenty of other tourist offerings besides golf. It's within a short drive of Oakland Hills. You can play the Timbers for $28, power cart included. An interesting footnote about this layout: it's one of the few courses in the world designed by a woman. Lorrie Violla was the architect for the course, which opened in 1996.
Frankenmuth's best course is the Fortress, designed by the now retired Chicago-based architect Dick Nugent. The greens fee there is generally in the $70 range -- a bargain when compared to the fees at some Chicago courses of the same quality.
My tour of the area this summer suggests Shepherd's Hollow in Clarkston is the best of the bunch. It has three, nine-hole layouts, all of them designed in 2003 by Arthur Hills, responsible for the Bolingbrook Golf Club in the Chicago suburbs.
The locals, though, seem to prefer Eagle Eye and Hawk Hollow, which are across the street from each other in Lansing. Eagle Eye is this year's site of the Michigan PGA Championship. There's nothing wrong with these two. I just was taken aback by Shepherd's Hollow. It has a terrific mix of interesting holes supplemented by beautiful terrain. Its elevation changes are nothing like any of the courses you'll find in the Chicago area. The best part is that it's enjoyable for players of all skill levels. You don't need to be a top-level golfer to appreciate all it has to offer.
If you're willing to stay a little further away from the PGA action -- or choose to skip that madhouse altogether -- you might try Tullymore, my favorite Michigan course of them all. It's in Stanwood, and it's part of the St. Ives Resort. Tullymore, designed by Jim Engh, was a smash hit when it debuted in 2002. Its popularity continues to grow.
Now if you want something really different, try the Double J Resort in Rothbury. Its course, called the Thoroughbred, is also a Hills' design. But it's located on a dude ranch. You can play golf during the day and watch a rodeo at night. Not many golf resorts can make that claim. It's just another thing about Michigan golf that's hard to believe.